Louisiana elections targeted in Facebook, Cambridge scandal

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is scheduled to appear before the House Energy and Commerce Committee after millions of people had their data accessed in the Cambridge Analytica scandal . (April 4)
AP

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify before Congress in the aftermath of public backlash over a data leak to Cambridge Analytica.(Photo: AFP/Getty Images)

Cambridge Analytica, the data firm accused of improperly harvesting personal information from as many as 87 million Facebook users to build voter profiles, was paid by a political action committee for work on Louisiana's 2016 U.S. Senate race.

Warrior PAC, which supported tea party favorite Rob Maness in the 2016 U.S. Senate race, spent $480,000 with Cambridge Analytica that year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

The PAC also spent money in support of 3rd District U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins' and 4th District U.S. Rep Mike Johnson's 2016 races, among others, though the consultant who directed that spending said he didn't hire Cambridge Analytica.

"I wasn't aware of it at the time, but I am now," said Maness, a Republican who secured 5 percent of the vote in the 2016 election eventually won by Republican U.S. Sen. John Kennedy. "I can tell you it doesn't look like they helped me."

Rob Maness(Photo: Gerald Herbert)

John Mathis was Maness' campaign consultant and spokesman and directed Warrior PAC money to support Higgins and Johnson, he said.

Because he worked directly for Maness, Mathis said he couldn't legally be a vendor with Warrior PAC for the Maness buy, but added: "It might be the worst half-million dollars ever spent on a Louisiana campaign."

"I don't believe (Cambridge Analytica) had any impact on the presidential election, and it obviously had no impact on the Senate election," Mathis said.

Candidates can't legally direct political action committees that support them, so Maness said he had no control over how Warrior PAC spent its money, "although I really appreciated Warrior PAC's support," he said.

But Maness said he is "very concerned" about the actions of Cambridge Analytica and Facebook as well as others like Google.

"We've got to get to the bottom of this quickly," he said. "If we don't understand how we're being manipulated and make it transparent there's a great danger to the integrity of our elections."

The data breach scandal has shaken Facebook, sending its stock shares tumbling, and has led to investigations in both the United States and England.

Facebook founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg is scheduled to testify Tuesday before Congress. He's sending lieutenants to testify to the House of Commons in England later this month.

British lawmakers want to know more about Cambridge Analytica's role in the country's election in which voters decided to leave the European Union, known as the Brexit referendum.

Cambridge Analytics was hired by President Donald Trump's campaign in 2016. Wednesday, the British consultancy firm said it received 30 million "licensed" profiles. The Trump campaign said it did not use data from Cambridge Analytica.

Former Trump aide Stephen Bannon, also former executive chairman of the conservative Breitbart News, was a board member of Cambridge Analytics.

Louisiana Secretary of State Tom Schedler said that even though his agency has never suffered a data breach, the Facebook scandal shows the vulnerability of personal data on social platforms.

"When you have that much personal data coupled with other data, people know how you think," Schedler said. "If they know how you think, they can feed you information like a propaganda machine that includes fake news, which is a real problem."

Warrior PAC spent $788,552 from April 1, 2016, to December 31, 2016, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Of that, $647,740 was spent to support Maness and $23,660 to help Higgins.

In November 2016, the Warrior PAC gave $8,300 to the GatorPAC for data acquisition services. Maness set up the GatorPAC to help conservative candidates.

The Warrior PAC also spent money to oppose some Republicans. It spent $40,718 against Republican Scott Angelle, who lost to Higgins, and $12,602 against former Republican U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany, who lost his bid for the Senate seat.

Warrior PAC also helped Johnson ($8,103) and Kennedy ($4,216).

Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1

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Facebook is taking steps to protect users' privacy after revelations that Cambridge Analytica may have accessed information from up to 87 million users, leaving many users feeling 'creepy' about using Facebook and social media. (April 5)
AP